Ideas to try: Bibliotaxi

Imagine you’re in a yellow and black taxi sputtering towards your destination, wondering whether you would have been better off squashed in a local train. You warily eye the meter as it spins rather too quickly for your wallet; you are stuck and there’s nothing you can do but wait.

But wait. If you are a reader and you don’t have one of those oh-I-can’t read-in-a-moving-vehicle phobias, you might welcome a venture like Bibliotaxi.

Bibliotaxi, a new project launched in São Paulo, is a library in a car. The Bibliotaxi contains a number of books inside the vehicle. Passengers can read any of the available books during their trip. Also, they are able to borrow books, by registering their name and returning the book to the taxi or at other city locations.

The objective of Bibliotaxi is to promote reading and build a sense of community in the Vila Madalena neighborhood of São Paulo. The initiative is a first step to encourage a new attitude towards sharing in the city: whilst today passengers are sharing knowledge and books, tomorrow they might be sharing the cars themselves.

The initiative has been developed by Instituto Mobilidade Verde (Green Mobility Institute), an organization that encourages people to reflect how we can become more sustainable in relation to urban mobility.

I’d like to see a Bibliotrain version too. Maybe e-readers that scroll over your head as you look upward, gasping for air.